The Animals Within Me

This week in class we read over half of "Song of Solomon" and it is starting to make a lot more sense. Furthermore, there was a point in Chapter 8 where a white peacock appeared during Milkman and Guitar's conversation. It comes to a point where Guitar tries to catch it but it then jumps onto a Buick. Looking deeper into the scene, the peacock, with all its jewelry, is representing a symbol of wealth and power. When it jumps onto the car so Guitar cannot get to it, it is showing its higher status compared to them indicating that the peacock is supposed to represent the white people in the society that are above the black people. At one point when Milkman asks what Guitar is going to do if he catches it, he responds by saying that he is going to "eat him". This just shows how desperate the black people in the country are to get revenge for what they have been suffering through for decades. This got me thinking. If the white people were described as peacocks, what would the black people be described as?  The white peacock had jewelry to show wealth, but most black people did not have much money. Also, this animal would be dark to represent the black people. Many often look at peacocks because of their attractiveness and the strut that they walk with. This is just how white people get all the attention in society where everything evolves around them. On the other hand, at this time black people did not get any attention. I think the perfect animal that would represent black people at this time would be a Vulture. They are black and they are often looked at with disgust. Still, they are an important part of society because they are scavengers that eat dead remains of animals. Some of these remains are harmful to other animals, which is why they are necessary. This is how black people were at these times. Although they were overlooked, they contributed to society and the country as a whole would not function without them. In the book it said that "Milkman wanted boats, cars, airplanes..." which is exactly like vultures. They also want to be equal in society due to all the hard work they do every day.